Wacky Weekend Rewind – What this weekend’s results mean for tomorrow’s bracket…

Saturday’s Action:

USC cannot miss after their win weekend sweep of Cal and Stanford. Saturday’s dominance of the Cardinal should bump the Trojans up the seeding ladder for tomorrow’s bracket.

After this last week, the conspiracy theorist in me is starting to get convinced PAC 10 officials are doing everything they can to make sure UCLA stays on the top line. First there was the phantom foul call that served as the turning point of Thursday night’s win over Stanford. Then, they were saved Saturday officials were to busy standing in bewilderment of Josh Ship’s H-O-R-S-E-like to remember the following rule: (2007-08 NCAA Rule Book, page 130) “Rule 7 Sec 1 Art 1: The ball shall be out of bounds when it passes over the backboard from any direction.” That’s home court advantage for ya. Regardless, after clinching the PAC10 title, the Bruins will be a hard team to pass on the NCAA’s top line.

Arizona quickly becomes an interesting team as they finish the season 8-10 in the PAC 10 with their road loss to Oregon. A first round exit I the PAC 10 Tourny, and the Wildcats might be sweating on SelSun. Meanwhile, Oregon jumps back into the bubble picture after a weekend sweep of the Arizona schools.

Congratulations die-hard but dead-broke UNC fans! You won’t be traveling far this March, as the Heels easily punched their ticket to both the Raleigh pod and the Charlotte Regional with the win over Duke last night. A solid run in the ACC tournament and UNC might end up the brackets top overall seed.

Georgetown sewed up the Big East regular season title, helping their chances for a #2 seed come SelSun.

UAB needed to keep their road tilt at Memphis competitive. It wasn’t. Anything less then a trip to the CUSA championship and the Blazers won’t have a bubble to burst on Selection Sunday.

Southern Illinois was the first bubble causality of the conference tournament season. Many believed the Saluki’s needed two wins to get a look from the committee. 1 win would get you in the fringe of the at-large conversation. But 0, losing to Norhtern Iowa? At least there’s a top seed in the NIT waiting for them!

Syracuse greatly helped their cause with a win convincing win over Marquette Saturday. A lot depends on today’s results as to whether the Orange will make the cut in tomorrow’s bracket. Their still two wins in the Big East tournament from assuring themselves a trip to the dance.

Miami postponed their lock on a bid, falling to rival Florida State on Saturday. They can’t afford a first round exit from the ACC Tourney. Meanwhile, there’s still a slim beacon of hope in Tally that a trip to the ACC final could get the Noles into the dance.

Baylor stated their case for a bid, picking up a convincing road win at Texas Tech. At 21-9, and 9-7 in the B12, they spot should be safe.

Vanderbilt’s OT loss to Alabama hurt, and hurt bad. The loss pretty well eliminates the Commadores from cracking the Power 16 the rest of the way, something few people figured after their upset of Tennessee less than two weeks ago.

St. Joe’s loss to Dayton didn’t help their cause at all. They’ll need a deep run in the A10 tourny to make the cut. Meanwhile, Dayton finished the season 21-8 and at .500 in conference. With a A10 tourny run, they just might return to the bubble picture after all.

Fellow A10 brethren Temple close the season at 11-5 in conference play, good for second place. Their an interesting team if they can make a run in the A10 tourny. Can their strong conference showing and January 16^th upset over Xavier make up for their poor non-conf showing?

Three automatic bids were punched yesterday: Austin Peay took the OVC title, Winthrop’s Big South dynasty continued, beating 7′7” Kenny George and UNC-Ashville to win their third consecutive conference crown, and Belmont, who also punched their third bid in a row from the A-Sun. Also, Stephen F. Austin grabbed the top spot in the Southland after chasing Lamar for months.

Looking Ahead – Sunday: